we will also be joined by rep lois katz to take your questions about implementation of the affordable care back later this year and a thursday out -- house vote to repeal it. "washington journal" next . host: good morning, it's washington journal, may 17. it's the first congressional hearing, on the irs targeting of conservative groups, which takes place at 9:00. the witness will include steven miller, the outgoing commissioner. if you'll also hear from the treasury inspector general for tax administration. that's at 9:00. you can watch it on c-span2, listen to it on c-span radio. a host of resources also available on c-span.org concerning the hearing. yesterday the house took its 37 votes on "the affordable re loot

total repeal of the lot. it passed. yesterday looked at toll repeal of the law. if you want to call us -- you can also reach us on social media on twitter. there are more than 100 postings on this topic on facebook. if you want to send us an e- mail, also. zelboraf day travail pipa the affordable care act -- there were several write ups yesterday looking at "the affordable care act.

abc news has a little bit more the breakdown of some of the details of the votes when it comes to the process. it was said that michelle bachmann called for the vote shortly before 6:30. for our first 45 minutes of this morning we will look at the vote that took place yesterday. you can call if you want to

outhgh area code 202. twitter is available to you as well. showe we even started the this morning there were over 100 people who commented on facebook. two thoughts from facebook this morning -- again, this is the 37th attempt on the act. votes taking place yesterday. the numbers will stay on your screen as we hear from you, the viewers. cleveland, ohio, democrat. hello. caller: how are you

37 times they tried to appeal president obama's care law. it's pretty clear they don't like obama. on the issue of health care and jobs, [indiscernible]. host: valerie in dulles, virginia, democrat. caller: hi. why was calling to mention the benefits of a law. many people may not know about it, but millions of young people who have held care today is because they were allowed to stay on their parents' plan. many senior staff are paying less for prescription drugs. and millions of americans are paying less for presentive care -- preventive care and no longer subject lifetime limits. and 17 million children with pre-existing conditions no longer are denied coverage.

not enough of that is getting out there. host: a couple questions for you. your thoughts on the vote that took place yesterday? caller: i believe they did it for the republicans who are new to congress and did not have a chance to vote. i see why they did it, but they should let it die after this, because it is not going to happen. this is the law of the land. this is they that 37th time. talk about the number of this specific vote on the affordable care act. caller: i see why they did it, but i don't agree with it. they should move on to the business of getting jobs for this country, for people in this country that want to work. host: you list a lot of details about the act. how did you find out about them? wh.gov/healthreform.

host: so you went to the actual website. you said a lot of people don't know a lot about the details. caller: there's so much misinformation out there that the benefits are not being talked about enough. host: that was valerie from dulles, virginia. representative lois capps, the democrat from california, will be on to talk about the vote if and aspects of the affordable care act. we will also hear from charles boustany of louisiana, the representative, as he talks about the committee meeting. in march that at 9:00 on c-span and listen to it on c-span radio. linet is on our republican for more ireland -- from rhode island. caller: they should kill this affordable care act because it will cost people a lot of money.

if tre everything there is going on with it. to once the irs being able track who has held care and who has to pay? as far as the irs, this deserves independent counsel. an independent counsel should do it. if this where people in to tell the truth and they lie, then it is like they have lied to the fbi. you cannot have holder, you cannot gamble for watching the hen house. you cannot have goebbethe wolf watching the hen house. this is not a good bill. listen, pedro, we pay for a lot of things people have like food stamps and insurance. give them places to live, give them places to live.

health care. these girls keep having kids. you have couples that cannot afford to have two kids. if we have people that have six kids and the father is not around. it has to stop. the average guy that is paying these bills cannot pay them for himself. it has to stop. host: that was albert on our republican line. he mentioned the irs, so the ways and means is at 9:00 this morning and you can also listen on c-span radio. let's look at some action that took place before the vote yesterday. we will show you a couple pieces of tape. first, the person leading the charge yesterday on the house floor,, representative marsha blackburn of tennessee. biggestf the impediments to job growth including the 800,000 jobs this bill will cost us, this law, obamacare, costing us 800,000 jobs over the next 10 years, is keeping people working full- time. we know what the problems are.

we are saying admit it was a mistake. the american people don't want it. it is too expensive. let's get it off the books. we do come forward with solutions. we have come forward spot with keeping patient-centered health constituents. that's what they want. they want options. they do not want regulations and mandates by the federal barbara plett who did not seem to solve the problems that are in front of them right now. host: we will hear more later on. give us a call on the numbers on your screen if you want to comment on the passage yesterday in the house of the affordable care act, the bill to repeal it. may visit joins us from fort lauderdale, independents. caller:. good: i would like to say to people like marsha blackburn and michelle bachmann, they say we

it.ld night aot have andnt to the web site there's a lot of misinformation. there are a lot of good things. it's good enough for them, but it's not good enough for us. their kids are covered. congress have insurance for themselves. some people in mississippi don't have medication and they are suffering. some of the congress people are keeping care from people. it is incredible. let congress drop their

insurance. use that money to help the other people who cannot afford to pay as much as they have. [indiscernible] they get insurance for life. it's ridiculous. get some jobs bill going. we need work. host: ron on the democratic line. are you there? caller: yes, good morning. i am dumbfounded to see a group of people working so hard not to do anything and would rather see the country dragged down than to see people getting health care. this is ridiculous what is going on right now. they passed a law. it is a law. they could certainly alter the law. bake in changes to make it more favorable and work with other people, but they would rather a

huge section of our country go without health care because it would maybe cost them a little extra money. the people that would be paying that extra money, the one screaming loudest, are paying huge amounts of money to government so that they're not affected, they don't ask to do anything. we are no longer a united states of america. we are a bunch of individuals that have no direction anymore. from wisconsinon on our democrat line. a couple tweets -- if you're calling to express your thoughts on yesterday's votes, stay on the line a few minutes. we want to tell you more about

the hearing that takes place at 9:00 today? looking at the irs. correspondentl joins us to tell us more. shane goldmacher, tells more about the strategy that republicans and democrats will take in this hearing today. guest: this is the first time congress is getting a bite of the apple since the scandal broke. the line of questioning will come down to who knew what and when. this house ways and means committee, republicans have been asking the irs about selective targeting of certain groups almost two years ago. not lie to them, they selectively edited their comments and responses in that inquiry. republicans are really looking for a chance to expand this to potentially see how high up the knowledge of this selective targeting of tea party groups

was. but democrats are not keen on defending the irs, but are not perhaps quite is interested in seeing this scandal moving into the obama administration. host: you'll hear from the outgoing acting commissioner today, steve miller. you'll hear from the treasury inspector general for tax administration, j. russell george. tell us about their input and what they bring to the hearing. guest: jay russell george is a key player. he's the inspector general's report set off this inquiry, the scandal, saying the irs had done targeting of mostly conservative groups. this is the first time he will testify publicly. onwill put a face and video some of the stories here. and the acting commissioner who was forced to resign, this is their first time to speak out as well. presumably will be defending the irs. it's not clear how steven miller

will react. roll.he first head to the second one was forced to resign yesterday, but he was not first. story,ou figure in this this is the incoming actor/director, daniel were ful. guest: we are getting rid of the people who caused the problem, we are installing a new civil servants, people can be trusted by the public. the irs has a key role in helping implement the health care law that your callers are talking about.

so republicans see this whole scandal as an opportunity to gain ground in terms of their arguments against the president's health care law, saying how could you trust this tax agency which unfairly targeted conservatives with implementing a huge law? so president obama would like to tamp down the scandal as much as possible and say this agency had bad apples but. we clean but. host: is it significant that dan was also part of the bush administration? guest: yes, there's something to be set for reaching across the aisle when you are trying to build support for nominee, to have someone who's a republican. this scandal broke under the watch of an irs commissioner who had been appointed under president bush as well. the key line of questioning will be who knew what and when, did it go all the way to the top, did it stretched from this

quasi-independent irs to officials of the white house, or people notified? the ways and means committee sent a letter. had folks come from the irs to the panel almost two ago. the irs consistently said we're not doing this, this is not happening. and now this new report from dave russell george says in fact it was. so there are frustrated lawmakers who want to figure out how they were told one thinks an inspector general said something else is happening. host: the first hearing today. other hearings next week. what aspects of the story will be other hearings consider? guest: next wednesday the house oversight and government reform committee chaired by darrell , one of the most persistent critics of the obama administration, he will bring in

an irs official as well who appears to be involved in this particular program. she's the person who was sent out to apologize last week. she will be a critical figure. on tuesday next week the senate , their committee committee chaired by a democrat, max baucus, he will bring in douglas showman, a former bush administration official and he was in charge of the irs on this targeting program was at its peak. so more key figures will be coming in. a lot of committees have potential jurisdiction or oversight over this. this may be the first hearing but certainly not the last. host: shane goldmacher, thanks for giving us details about the meeting today. guest: thank you. host: that hearing on c-span2 starting at 9:00.

you can also listen to it on c- span radio. we are currently talking about yesterday's effort in the house of representatives to pass its theh attempt to defund affordable care act. these stamps, either partial defunding portola efforts for the whole thing. we will talk about the irs later on today and the affordable care act act. the numbers are on your screen. twitter and facebook available. and you can e-mail us. pensacola, florida, republican buddy. caller: how are you? that we could keep our medicare. the i've been on medicare quite some time, but i have some doctors that are refusing it now. the thing about it now is it seems like obama is catering to

the hispanic community and bringing all these people in. he wonders why our deficit is ourup. because there's more welfare, more food stamps, more everything going out. host: do you vote? caller: yes, they are voting. anybody with aen card. purdue get obamacare? host: attorney, independent -- ernie, independent. caller: this is not obamacare. it belongs to mitt romney. it came out of massachusetts. you need to ask yourself, every citizen in the u.s. needs to ask himself who is paying for this now, was paying for your care now and why don't you have insurance if you don't have it? you need to answer a few

questions annd out exactly what this is going to cost you, because you are already -- i am paying wait too much for my health care. i know that my insurance is only covering about three-quarters of it. and then if i go to a hospital or something, i will be released step after the third day. i am thinking that people need to remember this did not come from obama. host: but it is his effort. so what do you think about pipa action yesterday to try to repeal it? caller: there are some stupid people in congress that have no idea what they are doing other than blocking something that somebody else put out there. all they're trying to do is say no to anything. what have they done? they have not done anything. they have the best care in the world and have not done a dam thing. host: the papers this morning

looking at updates on president obama's nominees for cabinet positions. will be the head of the energy department. the labor department nominee is the only latino in the cabinet. if confirmed. and gina mccarthy is waiting for votes on her nomination to head the environmental protection agency. that is the status of those three. a story in the papers concerning one of the president's nominees, the choice for commerce secretary, penny pritzker. the wall street journal has a story --

doug from toledo, a democrat. caller: i'm disgusted with the whole thing. the republicans are blocking their bidding that comes along. it's like they don't care what's good from the current -- what's good for the country. they just want to obstruct obama's plans. i'm tired of it. people that work for a living need to go democrat and get something done. bill clinton got stuff done despite the republicans. one caller was wrong. the deficit has been going down. what more can he do? he gets blocked at every turn. everything he does, they tried to obstruct. 37 times they voted for this. it's ridiculous for. we need to get these people out

of there. they don't care what's good for the country. they just want to go against obama. host: terry from lafayette, independent line. caller: good morning, pedro. 80% of all bankruptcies in america are due to high medical bills. we need that for our people. we are the only industrialized nation that does not provided for other people. as far as means what actions in congress? ofler: that means 80% bankruptcies because of medical bills is ruining this country. taking everything people have because of high medical bills. we need that for our people. host: so your support the affordable care act? caller: yes, sir. location,s is the brian joining us on the independent line. caller: i have a couple

questions. have read aare, i couple statements that if anybody in the state of texas or have anylse that would type of insurance, they would .ave to have the id chip i was calling to see if you know in a thing about this? host: where did you hear that? caller: a couple of papers on line. host: i don't know anything specifically about that. what is your point of concern it? possible for him to plant a chip into everybody onhe could have -- it's said

a piece of paper that if you were to have any type of medical care, you would have to have would i.d. chip. host: if anybody would like to comment on it, they can feel free to do so. to give you more and what happened on the house floor, we started by listening to marsha blackburn if. be here next from a representative of new york commenting on the house's 37 attempt to repeal the act. [video clip] >> here we are voting again for the 37 time although the supreme court has deemed it constitutional. this is nothing more than a feel-good member for -- a feel- good moment for new members of the gop who did not get to vote last time. congress, if we're going to vote 40 times to repeal health care coverage for millions of americans, i would like to vote against the defense of marriage act 40 more times. i'm sure there's a new

generation of members who would like to vote against it and i would like to do it again. i regret being a teenager when the civil rights act was voted on. onould like to cast a vote that. to cast a vote going into nazi germany would be very satisfying to me. i've contributed to social security all my life. for unlike the vote on my father's behalf to support the creation of social security. i feel very strongly the compromise of 1850 was the point of no return leading to the civil war. i like the chance to vote against it. i ask that the republican leadership at all these to the agenda in the weeks to come. >> the gentleman's time has expired. >> may have another 30 seconds? clearly we have plenty of time available for wish fulfillment rather than substantive measures such as the economy, immigration reform, and putting people back to work. i would like an opportunity to vote on many different things as well.

host: you can dance to comment on the action that took place on the house floor yesterday. those were some pieces of tape yesterday before the official vote to replace. michael on the democratic line at point lookout, new york. and when'm a democrat, obamacare was first presented to the people, the claim was it would cost in the high 800 to nearly $900 billion a year. the truth of the matter is it was supposed to bend the cost curve. we now know after the fact that those estimates were wrong. the true cost is about $1.70 trillion and they're trying to ensure another 30 million people or 40 million people. we also learned it will displace 20 million people from their private insurance. if that is true, what i am concerned about is this is the single biggest driver in our

u.s. the opposite, which has gone from $10 trillion in 2009 when president obama became president to today, where the deficit is approaching $17 trillion. if the reason why our house of representatives continues to revisit this is not necessarily a partisan but out of respect to new information, new fax getting disclosed. when we learn that the woman sitting implementation of obamacare was formerly the head of the irs, you start to really begin to get fearful of the fact that if our government is persecuted people it does not agree with politically. that is un-american and unacceptable. host: what is the way for aside from taking these type of votes? caller: listen, the first thing that has to be said is just because one party opposes another party, it will always be political. it will alwaysatay.

there's a number of americans wh o rn during an illness and would like to be able to turn to the government and have it funded. an illness.nduring obama administration presented this idea and it has a lot of support independent of politics. if you were to support it, let's say you were the president, would you not realize then that the irs must be sacred, that trust with the people would be above anything else you could do? that is your currency for getting this passed. yet we are finding out our worst fears are being realized that an administration finds itself in the three scandals. this one is clearly emerging now as the single biggest threat to not only the legitimacy of obamacare but to the legitimacy of this administration in its second term. host: in washington, republican, joan. caller: good morning.

thanks for taking my call. i totally agree with the the gentleman who just called. the woman who's now in charge of obamacare should be fired. there's no way. screw up in government service, you move out. it's an outrage that she is even still working in our government. that's all i have to say. host: there's another story playing out when it came to the nomination of president obama's choice for the epa, gina mccarthy. it's highlighted in pages of a new jersey newspaper. it deals with a democrat from new jersey.

there he is on the screen. that vote took place. the epa head vote. next to dover plains, new york, independent robert. caller: thanks for taking my call. good morning. i have been following the affordable care act. one part of it i don't

understand and i never hear anybody speaking about. understanding is they implemented this law so that people who are low-income or people who cannot afford to buy insurance would be able to get insurance. if a single person or even a married couple making $10 an hour or $12 an hour, $25,000 a year, they are supposed to pick up a $5,000 t 7o thousand dollars per year insurance policy. right when obama is getting out of office, they start picking up $600 a year fines. if you work for a company that employees, i don't know what the cut off is, but a lot of people i know work for employers that hire the four people or six people. even if the government gives you some money to help you pay for this insurance, going from paying for no insurance to paying thousands of dollars a

year when you are only -- new york state if you make $20,000 a year and you have to pay rent somewhere, you have no money left for anything else at the end of the year. so how does it benefit these people, how are they supposed to afford this insurance? if i am correct about all this, when president obama gets out of office, you will have millions of people screaming that they are losing their tax refund at the end of the year because they are being fined by the federal government for not carrying insurance that they cannot afford. thank you. host: steve from macon, georgia, a democrat. caller: yes, sir. i must be in the only person in america that just thinks that here,s did nothing wrong because they are tasked with collecting funds to keep this country going. and you apply f

status with the name "taxed enough already," your application should be set aside for further scrutiny. that's what i believe. this is a red herring. every republican that gets an audit now from the irs will start screaming discrimination. these people don't want to pay taxes. they call themselves patriots. they don't want to pay taxes. "the affordable care act act, how ridiculous is it to have people continue to vote on something that has already been settled as the law bland? they keep trying to repeal it. it's back to the racial issue where they don't want this president to have any impact on american history. find now the store you can in the washington post --

her name is most likely to, and 9:00 this morning during a hearing by the house ways and means committee, looking at the

irs issued. you can watch it at 9:00 on c- span2 and listen to it on c-span radio. sander from fort worth, texas, republican. i was supporting the ron paul campaign. not amazed that they have actually repealed obamacare. the medical community that i call on is up in arms about it. it is really hurting a lot of the medical profession, the physicians. and people are getting less and less care. a lot of doctors are going out and saying, no insurance, no medicare, you just pay what you want to pay. there are companies out there that are actually having people female doctors what they can pay on what stakers in pay and the doctors e-mail them back and that's how they are conducting health care.

the whole thing is a scam and it's ripping off the american people. i cannot believe anybody can go along with obamacare. why is he still in office? host: did you watched the actions of house republicans yesterday? caller: i just came back from a trip to iran to where i was being trained on some new medical equipment. i watched on c-span and i thought, my gosh, look what's going on. this is amazing. i was pretty happy about it. host: your eating at restaurants and it was on the network? caller: i was watching it on the network in a restaurant here in fort worth. and these people are from chicago and they have a wonderful restaurant. all i could think about was getting my reuben sandwich and i saw that and i thought, life is good, they are still working for us. host: that was sandra. now the story in the washington post about hhs announcing the

first national child-care standards. miriam, thanks for holding on

from rome, new york, independent. caller: hi, thanks for taking my call. as far as i'm concerned about the health care or any other how a government e laws if they don't have a sense of honesty, no truth or virtue? as far as i'm concerned, right the color of their skin, like this woman who just called and said we are against obama. had alan keyes. he's african-american. if we had him, the country would have been blessed by him, if people had wanted him, and he did not have a smooth tongue.

that's all obama has. how can he make laws? and all those people they don't have faith. my husband and i used to be in foster care. i know the system. was caring for, they sent us a $200 check. i told them i just got one, i don't need this one. i got in touch with them three times and told them i was bringing it back. them,y i sent it back to but i told them if they did not make some kind of move, i would keep it had to make sure that it was on record and my phone call. host: thank you for your comments. the president addressed sexual assault in the military yesterday with a meeting at the white house with high-level officials. a photograph being released by

the white house of the meeting which featured a secretary of defense chuck hagel. the story from cbs news says -- again, that is from cbs news this morning. and here is danny from alabama, democrat. caller: thank you. this is supposed to be the most informed nation in the world, the people. and i do not understand how people can get things so backwards as far as the people calling in about this has increased the deficit. no. the deficit has come down tremendously since the

affordable care act, which it was a poster. this is just stupid. if you think about how many millions of dollars it has cost try to repeal best, which could have been used in some way else to do some benefit. people could name one single thing that republican party has done to advance this country's interest in the last five years, i would like to know about it. thank you. host: that was danny from alabama. the front page of the washington times features a story from kafka stephen from-- from stephen diamond.

don from st. petersburg, florida, republican. caller: how are you? i am retired. i watch c-span every morning. for the last 25 years i've been worried about the dumbing down of america. toer listening for months all these little collars -- callers, i have confirmed in my own mind that it's working. the dumbing down of america is working. host: because? caller: because of the way the liberals call in and what they talk about. host: we're talking about the

house action yesterday. do you want to comment on that? caller: just listen to the liberal calls that come in this morning. that will tell you what america is thinking. host: the head of apple is set to testify in front of congress on the topic of taxes. this is historic in the business section of the post.

one more call on this topic. phoenix, arizona, on our independent line, wilfred. caller: hi. i have a question on how the affordable care bill would apply to me. i am a disabled veteran. i rely on that for all my medical care and did not have social security or medicare. so i just wondered how it might affect my situation. host: if you want to find out more about the affordable care act, i invite you to turn to our website, c-span.org. we have the video library in which you can type in topics and find out everything that has been said, whether it is on this

program, or the house or the senate or hearings on the topic of the affordable care act, and there have been many. c-span.org is where you can turn to, that information. one more story, the new york times of taking a look at syria. that full story is available to you at the new york times. here's what's coming up this morning as we continue. we will talk about the irs, especially in light of the hearing that takes place at 9:00. representative poe charles boustany, the republican from

louisiana will join us. -- representative charles boustany. later in the program, and democrats lois capps from california will talk with us about the 37th vote on repealing the affordable care act and related issues. ands weekend on "book tv" american history, on saturday and sunday in columbia, south carolina, the literary life of columbia. the city's first african- american mayor steve benjamin talking about the city. [video clip] >> the city of columbia is the largest city in the state of south carolina. we have a very old annexation law. in,000 citizens in our city the metropolitan area of close to 1 million people. we are the urban core of a

thriving region. historicis a very period from the founding of the , and the raiders play a central role in not only who we are not who we aspire to be. it's a play scared you can literally walk one block to my left and you will be where the secession convention was held. then you can go one block to my right and you will find probably the largest amount of information technology software that you will find in one square blocks anywhere in this region of the country, right here. , incrediblyerful important juxtaposition of who we were and who we are going to be. the significance of me being blessed with the opportunity to

serve as the first african- american mayor of this city, the largest city in our state, is not lost on me. it's a culmination of the work of so many different people who are black, white, christian, jewish, muslim. so many people who did the work and there was not a great deal of credit to go-around to lay the foundation so that an individual based on merit could have a chance to serve in the highest elected position in this city. >> "washington journal" continues. we're joined by the chairman of the ways and means committee, the chairman of the oversight subcommittee. guest: good morning.

host: 1 headline from the new york times looking at the irs and saying that the gop being energized ways how far to take the inquiries. especially with the first inquiry, what are you looking for and how far do you want to go? guest: we want to close the gaps that are in the inspector general's report. we have questions about who knew what and when, who gave the authority for these agents in cincinnati to make these kinds of decisions? why was the management oversight so poor? the irs why did repeatedly mislead congress on this issue? their answers were evasive in the context of hearings and in correspondence. host: so you don't think it's isolated to the cincinnati office? guest: i don't think so. host: how far do you believe it goes? guest: i don't know, no senior

in the irs must be held accountable and we want direct answers today from the acting commissioner. the hearing today is a starting point. we will not get all the answers to this inquiry today. we need to continue to pursue this. obviously, we will need to view interview others in the irs, those in the cincinnati office and perhaps those at the mid- level reigned as well as the acting commissioner today, probably the former commissioner as well. host: the outgoing acting commissioner testifies today. the inspector general. what is the question for you if you want to find out more, what it will you ask about this whole thing? guest: today we will set the stage for what exactly happened, because there are gaps in the timeline. we want to know what did the acting commissioner no and how does it relate to the decisions that were being made in cincinnati? definitiveen't more

action not taken? what did the chief counsel at the irs no? host: being? guest: i think it is wilkins. and was this related to treasury? i'm kind of curious to know why was it that the president stated he just became aware this with the release of the inspector general's report? why was he not put into the loop? this was a pretty big deal. host: our guest is with us until 8:20. if you want to ask questions, start dialing. if you want to send us a tweet , as well.il

jason terry footstock about resignations. you had michelle bachmann holding a press conference about how far they should go as far as that kind of thing. chafitz. how much does that influence the kind of hearings you will hold? guest: i'm intent on doing a thorough investigative analysis of all this. we want legitimate, vigorous oversight. we want to know what happened and how we can make corrective changes at the irs. it is --critical importance this is more important than politics right now, more important than the individuals playing this out. this is about the integrity of our system of government. the irs is an agency that interfaces directly with the taxpayer. it is perhaps the most powerful entity in our government. there has to be trust. there has to be integrity in the operations and trust on the part of the taxpayer the epilogue is being carried out to impartially, without bias and

without political consideration , and without being used as a political attack tool. this is critically important. i want to make sure that theme is kept throughout this investigation. host: another acting commissioner coming in, daniel werfel, any thoughts? guest: i don't really know him and have not dealt with him. it's important that the president will forward to put somebody in that position permanently, someone with integrity, managerial experience, knowledge of tax issues, tax policy. this is very important and i think the president should give strong consideration to getting that position filled as quickly as possible. host: two high level positions now being vacated. is that a good move by the president's? guest: i think he had to do it, but it does not give us all the answers to the questions we have . it we have-- i mean it's necessary but not sufficient at this stage.

kevin,ur first call is houston, texas, democratic line. caller: i want to know how many people during that time filed with the tea party or whatever groups. it seems like nobody is asking that question. i want to know how many people during that time were in that filing status. guest: the inspector general's report has a number. i cannot tell you off hand. i just don't remember. it is in the hundreds, or actually thousands. the numbers are listed in the inspector general's report. i suspect there are probably more that we will hear about it, now that this investigation has begun and it comes into the public eye. 2010 therethat since are large number in the thousands of entities filing for

501c4 status. from our next is shannon rome, new york, independent. 9/11 world trade center hit by an airplane. has never caused a still frame building to fall before. host: caller, this is about the irs. caller: its related. from washington, d.c., independent, next. caller: if it is suspected that 01c4 of these 5 0 organizations were abusing the tax-exempt status, what is wrong with the irs focusing on those which they believe actually among the groups that were

suspected of abusing the tax exemption status? guest: the irs has to make sure that the law is being carried out without bias and without partiality and without overt political considerations. it cannot be discriminatory. the law has to be applied evenly. the inspector general's report demonstrates that it was very one-sided. that's with regard to these conservative groups. so that is problematic. we have to get to the bottom of that. there are problems with the law. we know that. we are going to do tax reform. we're looking at fundamental tax reform, starting from scratch, line by line, creating a tax code if that is fair for the american taxpayer, if that is easy for the irs to administer, easy for compliance purposes. we can simplify the tax code and make it much fairer for families and for all concerned in this. we will have to do that. and we have started work on that.

my first letter to the irs regarding tax-exempt organizations was a very long letter try to get to the bottom of what is the problem with current raqqa and where are the gray areas. the fact of the matter is the irs was abusive in its approach to this. they used wrongful, discriminatory filters to take on these conservative groups. that is wrong. we have to have complete integrity in the system. that's what we are going to do from an oversight standpoint. host: you talk about the issues on tax reform, increased scrutiny on the irs, will that hinder aspects of trying to make tax reform happen? guest: quite the contrary. i think this actually feel the need for tax reform, because the irs has come to our committee repeatedly asking for more resources. yet we have seen mismanagement. we will have to address all these things. it also strongly makes the case for tax reform. we have a tax code that is too

complicated with many gray areas. to be fair to the american taxpayer, to be fair to american families trying to deal with this, we have to get down to the bottom of simplifying the tax code, hopefully lowering their rates, and getting to a code that is easy to administer, that people know what their tax liability host: this is scott, from columbus, wisconsin. democrats find. for thei had a question representative. takingt got done saying on tea party groups or right- leaning groups for tax-exempt status -- i do not understand, because none of those tea party groups were denied. all of them got 501(c)(4) tax-

exempt status. if you are going to look into that, i would like you to look into seeing why left-leaning liberal groups were not given a 501(c)(4) status because they were deemed to be too political and that tea party is completely political. they are not doing anything for social reform. anti-liberaling and anti-left propaganda. that is not social reform. guest: well, there are gray areas in the law dealing with 501(c)(4) pots that we will look at in the context of tax reform. there were significant delays in dealing with a number of these conservative groups. at the same time, many on the left leaning groups moved

through the process and got their 501(c)(4) status. it was not until chairman camp and i started inquiring about these that they expedited, them. the fact of the matter is there was political bias injected into the process and we need to get to the bottom of this and find out why it was allowed by senior management. why was this done and theetrated, all the while irs was denying this was occurring. they basically told us -- they were misleading, ebay said in their answers to congress in hearings, formal hearings, correspondence. this is important to get to the bottom of because it is the integrity of our system. it is about a powerful entity that interfaces with every

taxpayer. we cannot afford to allow abuse of power under those circumstances. the oversight subcommittee on ways and means i have an obligation to provide checks and balances and vigorous oversight for the taxpayer can have confidence in the system. host: can you connect the dots to the lower level and if it goes up higher? g: need to know who knew at the -- guest: we need to know at the senior level who knew about these issues. if it was at mid-level irs agents, that is a problem. you cannot have an agency running amok, doing things without regard for the law. that is why we need to understand what happened here. host: does it go outside of

treasury in your opinion? guest: we do not know yet. i would like to know what the chief counsel new. we know lawyers under the chief counsel were aware of this, making recommendations, some were followed, and the cincinnati office lapsed back into its old practice. there was obviously poor communication and oversight, but we want to know what does the chief counsel know in all of this at the end of the day, and what did treasury no because the chief counsel has to report back to the chief counsel in the treasury. host: this is by a finance lawyer -- guest: that is probably true,

and i would add that the irs does not have the competency to deal with the health-care law. they have been given expanded powers under the aca, yet based on hearings and information we have gathered so far, i have serious doubts they can handle the burden. they will be handling information outside of the normal purview of what they are equipped to do. this is a problem. this is going to require significant, continued oversight, to ensure the american people that this is conducted with integrity and fairness. host: michelle off of twitter says is in a time to all the 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status to include all clinical groups question -- political groups? will do tax reform and we want a fair tax code. the problem is there are areas

in the law that are gray and have not been changed for some time, and the tax law that has not been changed substantively since 1986 has not kept up with recent developments. i can tell you the tax-exempt area of the law is something being looked at by the ways and means committee. we had a special working group focused on this area. i have conducted a lot of oversight in this area since i took over subcommittee chairmanship two years ago. host: tennessee. republican line. teresa. hello. caller: the agricultural department was found guilty of discrimination against black farmers and was awarded billions and billions of dollars. being that the tea party groups are a majority white group, and they were discriminated against for their political leanings,

and i believe i race, how is this -- by race, how is this any different from the farmers case and do you expect there will be a civil right's lawsuit against the irs? my second question is, i feel when the irs is in charge of the leasing obamacare, it will just be the tea party groups that will be targeted for fines and penalties to pay for that. i would like to have your response. thank you. guest: thank you. i will tell you that our job is to make sure the law is carried out impartially, without bias or political consideration, and that is the purpose of congressional oversight. i take that role very seriously. as to the question of legal action that might be taken by groups that potentially were injured by this, i am sure there

will be lawsuits. i do not want to speculate on what they would be, but i have no doubt that likely will be. host: stamford, connecticut, mike. independent line. i am just thinking if it was any group -- bikers, gardeners, 10,000 or 20,000 of them that wanted to have a tax- free exemption, the irs would look into their business, and all of you in the tea party are crying because it is ridiculous. .verybody is coming on you i have a question for the host. i never got to see all of you together because i never know how many of you there really are. host: we will let the guest handle the first part. guest: the tax-exempt area is a very complicated area of law,

and i will tell you over the past two years i have been conducting investigations into that area of law, looking at where the problems lie -- the gray areas. it has been a proliferation of all kinds of 501(c)(3) and 501(c) four organization's, and trying to understand where these gray areas are is a major concern for us at the ways and means committee, and i can assuredly tell you we are looking at this, and as we do tax reform, starting with a blank piece of paper, looking to rewrite the tax code line by line, we will look at this area. host: about 10 more minutes with .ur guest the hearing starts at 10:00 a.m. eastern on -- 9:00 a.m. eastern on c-span2. john. democrats line. caller: i am a democrat, that at

times i vote republican. i heard the congressman talk about the american people and concerns with the irs. i am concerned. this should not happen to anyone or any group. here is what concerns me -- what wall street did to this country four or five years ago, neither party has touched or will touch. the republicans and democrats -- for each side. it is like mitch mcconnell and chris dodd, who was a democrat -- buddy, buddy, buddy. the one thing i like about the tea party is they are not a leech. neither side has the guts to face wall street and do something significant. i appreciate your efforts in going after the irs, but do something important and show that you really have some guts. guest: thank you for your concern.

. appreciate it as we look at tax reform, we will look at financial derivatives and the tax treatment of those things. that is part of what you are suggesting. i agree. more oversight is needed in this whole area because clearly things happen with these housing derivatives that created the financial crisis. host: on the topic of oversight, the president was asked yesterday about a special prosecutor. your response to his response. [video clip] it will be sufficient for us to be working with congress. they have committees. ig's there. iey have done an audit, and understand they will have a recommendation. attorney general eric holder also announced a criminal investigation of what happened.

investigations, i think we will be able to figure out exactly what happened, who was involved, what went wrong, and we will be able to implement steps to fix it or -- fix it. ?ost: mr. charles boustany guest: we need to go through the hearings and gather information and perhaps there will be a need for special counsel. ?ost: you're not convinced yet guest: i am not convinced yet. there are some who are, but let's move forward with the investigation. host: you heard the president say he wants to work with congress on this. guest: i am pleased. it is nice to say that, let's see what the follow-through is like. i hope we get is full cooperation. host: what does cooperation and follow-through look like? guest: making sure we get all

the documents that we request. we have asked for documents or two years and have been stonewalled. host: documents on this issue? guest: documents on this issue and others related to the irs. bring the president will all pressure to bear on agency to release documents, e-mail, communications said that we can get to the bottom of this. this is not a democrat or republican issue. it is an american issue about the integrity of our system. host: when you asked for the documents, they did not deliver all the documents, or were there specific documents you are looking for? guest: all we have gotten so far is generic, bureaucratic language about process. we need specific information about who made these decisions, why were the decisions made, why wasn't there proper oversight, was the chain of command, and who knew what?

host: neil on the republican line. texas. caller: i want to know if the representative will be looking into further abuses such as targeting groups that are homeschooling. .e were targeted by the irs we were not allowed deductions for our children, claiming they did not have proof they lived with us. we had never been divorced. we where claiming them separately. they wanted a letter from a bus driver saying that they take them up and took them to public school. i told him we were homeschooling, and they said their superiors instructed them only to take a letter of a -- from a bus driver as proof of a deduction. i would ask the representative to look into christian groups that have been homeschooling also. to give yout want

assurances that we are looking to make sure the law is applied fairly will without hirschi ali to political or religious considerations -- without partiality or political or religious considerations. i would urge you to send information to us, and we would be happy to look into this. i want to also emphasize that this is the beginning of the investigation. hopefully we will get substantive information from the irs, from the administration, to fully understand what happened and take corrective action. the fact that the irs has stonewalled us for two years, and have stonewalled the american people and it is wrong, and abuse of power. "ost: in "the national journal it is written if democrats and republicans were determined to go after organizations, why

would they leave crossroads gps alone? the idea that they have anything to do with social welfare is a most farcical, and that is why every major finance it difficultnd not because of the political coloration, but the "of the intent and clear language of the door -- law were ignored by a complacent irs. guest: there are gray areas in the law that allow for abuse. there is probably abuse on the part of organizations -- i do not want to speculate on that. we're going to look at the law and make sure the law is clear and easy to apply. tax reform. of at the same time we are investigating these allegations and looking at what abuses occurred.

we know from the inspector general report there was abusive discrimination. we are going to get to the bottom of that. host: laura from twitter asks what is the time i for tax reform. the timeline for tax reform. to move quickly, t we want to get this ri we have hamany hearings including with finance, the senate committee of jurisdiction, and we have had an open process with drafts released, working groups taking input from various stakeholders, and we are now getting to the point where we can start looking in detail the current law and what needs to be changed. we are moving very quickly with this. chairman camp says he would like to have something done by the end of the year. that is not a hard and fast deadline. host: is it achievable? guest: i think it is achievable, but we have to get this right. host: steve.

independent line. florida. i was born in cincinnati. ohio was critical to barack's reelection. i will play this both sides. that is john boehner's backyard. you just have to shut it down, shut down that field office, move it wherever you have to move it. as charles says, we need more oversight and less government, a cyclic card how can you ever get , basically.sight how can you ever do that? you have to have checks and balances. it is a good thing for bobby jindal in louisiana because the last thing we need is a louisiana politician on the house ways and means committee. this is america. we need to do things for americans.

2005, when all the lies about the iraq war and bush was reelected, and now it is the democrats that did all the lying over the last year, making sure everything was shuffled under the table so that barack obama could be reelected. all i can tell you is this country needs more than two parties. guest: we are conducting oversight and the reason this whole thing blew up with the irs is basically because the house ways and means committee, chairman camp and myself, conducting oversight, we basically did the groundwork that got the inspector general involved in this and that is why we are where we are today with the american people seeing some sunlight shed on the operations of the irs. this is just the beginning, and we are going to continue this process. i take my role as chairman of the oversight subcommittee on ways and means very seriously.

i took over that position in the last congress, and we have just gotten started in this area and we will continue to pursue it vigorously. host: from twitter, will overreach by congress and the effort to overhaul tax from? strike theeed to right balance with compliance and the ability to administrate the tax code. that makes the argument for a simpler tax code, which is our goal. we want a tax code that is fair to the american people, that does not have the irs continuing to ask for more and more taxpayer resources, a tax code that allows them to administer the tax code in an unbiased way with certainty. it has to be fair. that is what we are going to do. host: jill, michigan. democrat line. caller: i just wanted to find wl

groups are achieving tax-exempt status. i think it is uncalled for, unneeded, and i do not need anyone to tell me how to vote and how to think. they are not doing anything for most of the people in the community. s like the lion's club and rotary, they do things for people in the community. status,erve tax-exempt but political group should be cut out of it entirely. thank you. guest: i appreciate your comment, and that is something we will look at as we do tax reform defining what constitutes social where fair, where do you draw the line in this so that there is clarity and you do not have gray areas. this is an important area to look at. i want to point out that oversight of the tax-exempt

area, until we started doing this in the last congress, it really had not happened since the 1990's. this is an area of the tax code that is extremely complicated. i found very early on when i took over the subcommittee chairmanship that we need to look at this area in a systematic way and that is what we are doing. host: representative charles boustany of louisiana. remember, the hearing with the irs at 9:00 a.m. on c-span two. what is your first question? guest: we will talk to commissioner miller, finding out what he knew, when he knew it and why he did not take action. a cap next, representative lois capps from california will talk about the vote to repeal the affordable care act, and we will have a conversation with her next.

♪ >> how do you feel about describing your science in 30 seconds? crocs i will make an attempt. cutine you had a yardstick, dointo nine, and if you this process 10 times you get to the size of the adam. suppose you did this 35 times. what is left in the universe? we have no instrument to measure that. people like me have been working on a piece of mathematics called string theory to answer the question. >> my wife is always asked what

does your husband actually do, and her answer is he makes up stuff for a living. that is sort of right, but i prefer to say most people know what a novelist does, it's words and sarah -- sentences and tell stories, we use mathematics to make up our characters and tell our stories, and if we are good, our stories correspond to something that happens in nature. that clip you saw was my attempt to boil down to a 32nd soundbite what it is that i and people in my community do to understand the world. >> more with national science award recipient s james gates junior sunday on "q&a." crocs the question is why do we do it?

-- >> the question is why do we do it, why take the risk? fun, pleasure, making money? there are easier ways to make money. we doing to understand the world, why it changes. tends to move left the world's plates. tensions and then snapping and we go to where the plates are fitting together so that innocence has a voice, to show television pundits that they are usually wrong, and we do this because we decided this is all we want to do with our slice of time on the planet. richard engel from the museum memorial rededication. it is followed by a on media coverage of war. two's booktv,n

lanny davis on handling scandals kinds. on c-span three, "american history tv" -- "oral histories" remembering gerald ford. kinds. "washington journal" continues. host: joining us now is lois capps serving from the california 25th district. what does it say to you that a 37th vote on the affordable care act was taken yesterday? guest: healthcare is working now with this new law in place. that is happening, but in the meantime the leadership in the house of representatives is stuck on whether they approve it or not. the american people are taking the parts that work for them, and we are moving it forward. host: as far as the"washington t

itself? asst: it is the 37th repeal, the speaker said, but it will die in the senate as the previous ones have. grade thewill you administration's efforts on educating the public on the affordable care act act -- affordable care act? guest: i hope we're making progress. i work for a year to get this onto the floor for improved -- vote. what we did not do is have the format within it for providing education to the american people. there has been this gap of time where people watched the contentious debate, saw what came out of it, but did not realize how it was impacting their lives and a lot of people still do not. host: was that a condition of congress itself, the white house, together?

guest: there is blame to go around. i'm a public health nurse. i knew we had a broken health system and was determined to do something about it, and was ceased to be part of a big milestone, but the truth is if you are a senior, you know you need medicare because your health needs increased. if you are poor and challenged, you know you need medicaid, but for the vast majority of people that are healthy, they do not think about having health care benefits. host: as far as the rollout of aspects of the affordable care act, there has been criticism about how it is rolled out from democrats -- part is education, part is where individual pieces by. do you share those concerns? guest: i share those concerns because i want people to see the good parts of the bill. it is the ability to have

preventive health care. when i was a school nurse for many years and was very clear to me which is and regular hadkups and -- which kids regular checkups. for the problems that arise, how will this be addressed long- term question that it was really clear which families had access to healthcare -- long- term? it was really clear which families had access to healthcare. we need to provide access for all people and this is a step in that direction. host: lois capps is with us to talk about the affordable care act. you can ask her questions here and here are the numbers to do so.

the house is in a 9:00 a.m. today. lois capps will be taking your questions until that time. we start with brian. pennsylvania. independent line. caller: good morning. i wanted to know if you read the entire law before you voted for it. ,uest: thank you for calling in and yes, the law was before my committee. not only did i read it, but we struggled and debated over in a bipartisan way every line pretty much. it is a complicated deal or law, but we do healthcare in a complex way in this country -- we do not turn it over to the government in a single-payer program. we know we need some government assistance and the question is where and i -- where and how. host: mel from arkansas. good morning.

mel is gone. you saw speaker boehner standing next to the seven foot stack. are you concerned that there is not much paperwork involved? guest: that is a lot of regulations, but there was a lot put into the building in the year debating about it. what you get when you pass a major piece of legislation is something that needs to be refined and improved over time. we saw this with medicare when it was passed and this one, too, has a lot of pieces in it. those will be streamlined so that people can understand. everyone wants access to their provider. host: because of your medical background, if i'm a medical provider, what does the stack of paper mean for me? guest: we do not want it to be a stack of papers you have to

fill out. he needs to be translated into something you can understand clearly -- it needs to be translated into something you can understand clearly. for the bulk of doctors, this will not change. it is for the people for whom this has been outside of their reach that we need to have the same system in place. host: the medical community should not worry then? guest: we all need education. you do not know when you write legislation -- we touched base and had hearings with dozens of people, providers, consumer and when youest, roll it out, it should be straightforward and we will see that as it is being delivered. host: there was a press conference featuring the tea party where senator rand paul spoke and he talked about medical records as part of his concerns for the future when it comes to the irs especially.

hear what he has to say. [video clip] am a physician, quite worried about the privacy of medical records, where your medical records will be violated by the irs that seems to have the ability and penchant to use political persuasion to search out political opponents. i am very concerned about this. somebody needs to be held responsible, somebody needs to be imprisoned, somebody needs to be prosecuted. the resignation is a step in the right direction, but we need to find out who wrote the policy, who approved the policy and they to be held accountable. ,ost: representative lois capps speaking to regulation? thet: we have always had obligation that privacy is maintained at all costs.

host: the irs taking that kind of information, does that concern you? guest: it does, but we need to make sure they do not overreach. if that is not in this legislation, we need to address it. host: kevin, democrats find. sacramento, california. guest: how is it there in sacramento, kevin? >> i am actually in wyoming. -- caller: i am actually in wyoming. i am listening to everybody speak about the affordable care act. here i am, a husband, trying to do the right thing, take care of my family. i get injured very lightly and go to the medical facility, uc davis and was probably there for no more than an hour and a half. it turned out my medical situation was not severe. i had a light

ended up costing me $21,000, which i cannot afford. as i tell the medical profession, i want to pay my bills and pay my bills honestly, but when you go from making 10,000, $15,000 a year, and your pay scale goes up, and i am having to change my profession and be away from home to make these payments and be a better husband, father and taxpayer -- i mean, i do not get the help that everybody speaks of. i am not getting it, and i know a lot of people in my situation that are out here on the road and in other professions not getting the help. still i hear republicans and democrats alike -- everybody wants the same thing, but instead of blaming people, why doesn't everybody truly work together and show the public

that we are here for you? stop talking about being here for us. host: caller, thank you. , i can just picture you driving along the road, and as you do, and everybody does, you worry about if my family is safe and if i'm able to provide for them, and you know that you ran into this when you wound up in a medical facility. the basic protection is to have adequate health insurance and access to that insurance does not come with every job, and the goal of the affordable care act is to make their peace of mind available to you so that you know if something happens you healthcarecess to and for your children that they have ongoing examinations, treatments and preventive programs and host: a viewer --

programs. host: a viewer wants to know how the affordable care act will reduce the fundamental cost of healthcare? guest: healthcare is way too expensive. the affordable care act has the goal of getting everybody in coverage, and hopefully there are ways the costs come down. host: how do you see those coming down? guest: by giving consumers more choices, and if they are giving those choices, people will pick something that is affordable and has the best opportunities for them. the health care reform law is based on the capitalist system that competition works and you of options and you will pick the one that lets you stay healthy. host: is that what the exchanges are about? guest: that is what the exchanges are about. most people have not had access to the exchange, getting insurance and to them, and most

cannot afford this. host: do you see this uniform across 50 states or piecework? guest: this will happen to states individually, but we want as much choice as possible so that states did not feel they were handled a cookie-cutter format. host: westport, connecticut, judy on the republican line. ifler: my question would be obamacare is so wonderful, why isn't everybody in congress or who works in the government made to take it? is it because you do not want the irs group and the panel of 15 deciding how your healthcare will be covered when you are 70 years old guest: -- old? guest: judy, you are talking about me because i fall into that group, and me and my staff

will be part of obamacare. we will find ourselves in the same place the american people are. we knew if we design something for the american people that we did not want to exempt ourselves and we are not exempt in any way. host: you and your staff will be part of it? guest: yep. host: how many on your staff? guest: counting the district, 22 were so. this will be for myself and others that will be entering into the system. most large employers -- people will keep their same policy. if your company has been providing health insurance and you like your doctor and health insurance policy, nothing changes for you. we wanted to experience this as people will experience this for whom this is an opportunity where they have not had access and they will be able to go into a market and choose something.

host: what about the small business people we care about him having to hit the 50 number and below to comply. that affects them. guest: it does affect them. it is an arbitrary line, and you have to make the line somewhere. i visit small business owners in my district because it is the .ackbone of my -- my economy they would like to offer it as a benefit. now they will be able to offer it either as a benefit, or say you can choose as an individual participant. host: chris, middlesex, north carolina. independent line. caller: good morning. guest: hi, chris. caller: how are you doing? my question is universal coverage where everybody has to be covered or have some type of insurance. i do not feel comfortable with the irs enforcing that,

especially with the fact that they are in a scandal now. i live in north carolina. offeredny gets insurance, and i believe the state hasn't opened one of those exchanges. i wonder how they're going to cover that for people that cannot afford to buy it independently. guest: that is particular to the state where you live. states that did not participate -- i live in california, and our state reached out and has made this a plan, we call it cover california. so, the federal government will be the place where the exchanges are offered, and there will be a way to do that within your community. , st. petersburg,

florida. democrats line. caller: good morning. i am very grateful to see a woman like you helping all of the people like me in our age group, where we are not working, and some of us are at the medicare, medicaid age and we struggle to pay for medical tests. i have a higher risk for cancer. when i lost my job, i could not pay cobra. i used to make $15 an hour when i was working. i started going to the free clinic and was struggling to find affordable test to keep myself healthy. i believe in prevention and prevention helps to save money in the medical field. although the debts that i have our medical bills, even though i was working with insurance

not afford every time i went to debt is medical because i could the hospital. i always ended up in debt. i believe the american people should not be afraid of change. , and yousystem, fix it know what, the only tax i would be delighted to pay is for obamacare. guest: thank you. i enjoyed listening to your story. it was stories like yours, and he -- you are certainly not alone. you are the reason we knew we needed to address health care reform. you know you need health assistance and you cannot afford the big bills. hopefully, healthcare will be affordable for you now and you'll will have the peace of mind knowing that if you need to get assistance that there will not be the barrier of cost standing in the way.

host: because you come from the health industry, how do you keep it affordable? how do you maintain that? is to providel access, enough people participating, and the cost will come down. there are affordable clinics now. there are waiting lists. there will be adjustments as we get into this. we want to bring a lot of the system, and we need more community clinics, primary clinics for primary providers, but that is the access to care, the most inexpensive care, and she points out that if she could get preventive care covered, the high-cost care could be avoided or at least minimized. host: there is a story in "the hill" saying the administration hired a public relations firm to help with healthcare. it istrac.

guest: we put that in the legislation because we knew -- who knows what an exchange is? about what tobate , thishis -- these choices shopping cart, if you want to say that. we wanted to say to people that we want you to have choices because not all families or needs are the same. some people want to put a lot into healthcare. they want cadillac coverage, but that will be expensive. there needs to be a minimum. for things that come along the way, we wanted to be coverage, but let people choose from a market basket. host: do you have a sense of how the education will go out -- of the forms, commercials -- what does it look like? guest: california has been one of the states to first rollout,

so we have been planning with a system called the navigator. there is an office in the governor's office -- california covered is how it is being described. it is already now being implemented because there are these deadlines or benchmarks, and we want to make sure that we need them. secretary sibelius says the country is on track and they will be rolled out. it is very different in different states. some have not embraced, so it will be handled differently. host: is your test like a pet -- is your state like a past state? asst: we are doing this best as we can. there is a lot of choice for a state to figure out how much education is required. with my background, i think the more education happens i had so that they understand -- most

people have not taken advantage of opportunities to stay healthy, and that is what we want to have in front of people. healthier lives is the goal. host: redding, california. and, republican line. twoer: i watched one of our local health -- heart surgeons talk about obamacare last weekend and he stated in the federal guidelines we have 21 part surgeons listed to -- heart surgeons listed to serve our area, and in fact we have two, and the interesting part is the two active surgeons were not listed in the directory. , itypical government work is wrong. all of the information is wrong. we hardly have any doctors up now.that takes medical they are scrambling to find doctors to work our community

health center because that is where people will be going -- the community health center. they are struggling to get doctors there because a lot of these guys, believe it or not, do not want to go to school for more than 10 years and get out and make a minimal amount of money for all the work and that they have gone into. i do not expect these doctors to either. can the government do anything right? we have two heart surgeons, neither are listed in the directory, a we have 21 listed and they do not live near our area. you guys cannot get it right. why don't you leave it to the private sector? ann, thank you for calling in. you point out some of our big challenges. healthcare reform addresses one part of the problem but we have

many challenges for healthcare today, particularly for a more rural area like reading, california, where the shortage of doctors is an acute need. this is a problem where there is access in some parts and not in others. this has to be worked out good you do not want government to force people to move into areas -- worked out. he did not want government to force people to move into areas. we have a number of challenges we have before us that only get highlighted when you start talking about healthcare reform. host: texas. thank you for waiting. go ahead. myler: thank you for taking call. i have been listening to c-span all morning and the congresswoman said something about these exchanges. you have a choice. what happens when the government dictates what your

insurance has to cover? it is like me. i do not need to take -- pay for taking birth control pills or a lot of things. so, you will get into these exchanges, and a lot of people will be paying for a lot of things they do not need, which makes insurance go up. i do not see how you could add millions of people to a program and it goes down. then, when you get into qualifying for all of this they haveean, knocked it down from 65 pages to 21. another thing that scares me is the irs taking all of this stuff in. i do not know why you have to make it so complicated that you have to go out here and teach people what this is about. thank you. fort: well, thank you

calling in. there is a lot that seems new in the health-care law, but if you have had access to healthcare, you will continue just as you are, and if you have not been able to go to a clinic because you could not afford it or because your doctor was there -- actually, for most people, nothing is going to change. host: a story about kathleen sebelius saying that she is going to help care -- health officials for donations to help implement the health-care law. her unusual fundraising push comes after congress repeatedly to setd additional funds up the affordable care act. what do you think about her actions? guest: when i was part of the committee drafting health-care reform, we knew there would have to be outreach and education. the people that have been

calling in today -- my heart goes out. and is a lot that is unknown. that is the occasion for rumors and stories to abound. outreach and education is a critical part to getting this unrolled properly. the legislation was passed, but it was funded afterward, and some of the funding did not happen from the government, where i think education is part of our role. now, the secretary has gone out some and this happens in many other aspects of government as well -- host: so, as a practice, you are ok with it? guest: i want to see how it unfolds. i want to make sure she does not step over ethical lines that breach confidence, or --, you know, going where she should not go. i do know, and i think this discussion is just an inkling of how much work we have to do and still as this law is rolled .ut in different states

part of it is just understanding what is there. host: what did you mean by ethical lines? guest: we do not want favoritism shown anywhere, but the engagement of people involved in expanding what healthcare is seems to be a good idea. host:@9:00 a.m. this morning, the house ways and means committee will look at the irs and practices there when it comes to conservative groups. you can watch that live on c- span two. as people are milling about, the room is starting to fill up. see it live on c-span two at go0 a.m. and end by you to to our website for more information about this hearing and testimony and documents available. stay with usl until 9:00 a.m. when the house of representatives comes in. , --n, and dearborn

dearborn, illinois -- michigan. thank you for passing this immediate health-care reform for people that do not have access to insurance because of their income. now, the house, the senate and this act.ent signed it is the law. the federalncy in government to handle this program is the irs. there is no other agency with access to income of the people which is the base of how much they will qualify. not the case with this program.

we are the best country in the world. have anything about affordable health care. [indiscernible] the actmane to have enacted in this country. ,ow, the details about how, who there is a process- oriented program like that in a country of 300 20 million. host: we will leave it there. a number did notis that it was understand, and that jumps to 65% low income households. younger americans also demonstrate an awareness, with

five in 10 unable to say whether the affordable care act is in life. -- in place. guest: this is a huge challenge. if nobody knows about this, what ?ood does it do education, outreach and a pathway to access have to be clearly understood. the work is not done. host: but the numbers, do they not suggest a better way to educate folks kaiser saying that? a better way for folks to know about the affordable care act? guest: we need a better way, and we need to use every medium, including the media, and outreach in the local community is the easiest way as it starts to be implemented in an area -- that people will know area, that people will know this is how to do it in ways that are personal.

host: michigan. republican line. thank you for holding -- mississippi, republican line. thank you for holding. thank you. what do you tell these employers who are forced to furnish this health care to your employees, and what tell employees that will lose their jobs or have to go part time because the employer has found out it is cheaper to pay the fine, which in my opinion is extremely unconstitutional, but they have to pay this fine and it is cheaper to do that than to keep employees on full-time question like what will you tell these employees that will lose their jobs or -- full-time? what will you tell these in place that will lose their jobs or be cut back? what will you tell the employers? on a: the ones i speak to

daily basis, small business owners, whose biggest despair has been because of the costs come in they have not been able to offer healthcare to their employees, and and now they can go to the exchange. those that have more employees, for the most part, 95% of them, have already been offering health insurance. that will not change for most people. host: we are a few minutes before the start of the house. we will take as many phone calls as we can. karen, burlington, iowa. hello. caller: thank you for taking my call. my sister has been searching all over the internet for this obamacare land. the cheapest one she can find is $20,000 a year. who can afford that? not only that, i do not believe all of congress will drop their plan and go on to obamacare.

they have it too good with where they are at. guest: there is no one obamacare plan. the way we wanted to embrace what is already in place in this country is we have a range of insurance companies offering a variety of plants -- not all of them are $20,000 a year. people can, in some need subsidies if they cannot afford the premium, but people can enroll. hopefully the cost will come down as insurance companies see they are in competition. host: our guest is lois capps, democrat from california. before we let you go, as far as current issues dealing with the white house, what does it mean for the president's agenda going forward when he has to deal with the irs, benghazi and other issues like that?

and chewing gum at the same time is what you need to do when you are the president. these are issues that need to be addressed. he does not want to interfere with that process. he has how many more months left in office, and he wants to make the best use of that time. host: lois capps. , thank you for your time this morning. do not forget, it is 9:00 a.m., the hearing on c-span2 takes place. the house wings -- the house ways and means committee. you can listen to it on c-span radio as well. it has not started yet. for now, we will leave that as we take you to the house of representatives.